FIFA World Cup Icon Backs Lionel Messi To Break His Record In This Edition: "He's Special"
Argentina's World Cup-winning captain Lionel Messi, currently embarking on a historic sixth World Cup campaign, has 13 goals under his belt.
Legendary German striker Miroslav Klose has admitted that his record for the most goals in FIFA World Cup history is likely to be shattered during this year's expanded tournament, with Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe closing in on the all-time feat. Argentina's World Cup-winning captain Messi, currently embarking on a historic sixth World Cup campaign, has 13 goals under his belt-just three shy of Klose's benchmark of 16. Meanwhile, France skipper Mbappe, who famously scored a hat-trick in the final in Qatar four years ago, breathes down their necks with 12 clinical strikes to his name.
Speaking to Süddeutsche Zeitung, Klose suggested that the expansion of the tournament from 32 teams to 48 this year increases the chance of his record being broken.
"I expect my record to be broken in this tournament."
The 2014 World Cup winner has backed Messi to break his record, calling himself a big fan of the Argentine maestro.
"With more teams, there are more matches and therefore more opportunities to score goals. And I expect Argentina and France to go far. That's perfectly fine, the record will be broken eventually anyway, Messi is welcome to do it. I'm a huge Messi fan, always have been."
Klose also expressed his admiration towards Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni, having shared the dressing room with him at Lazio.
"Messi is a genius. And I also have a lot of respect for the Argentinian coach Scaloni. I played with him at Lazio. He showed me around the city a bit back then. We're good friends," he said.
Messi looks all but set to start off against Algeria in his side's World Cup title defence, having expressed happiness with his performance and fitness after Argentina won their last pre-WC friendly against Iceland on Wednesday.
The game against Algeria will be followed by fixtures against Austria and Jordan, respectively.
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